MTSU poll: 62 percent in Tenn. against gay marriage

News Sentinel Staff
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Mar 5, 2013 at 8:55 AM

NASHVILLE — Sixty-two percent of Tennesseans oppose “allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally” but almost as strong a majority oppose making it illegal to talk about homosexuality in school classrooms at lower grade levels, according to a Middle Tennessee State University poll.

Only 28 percent of those polled said they were in favor of gay marriage, with 62 percent opposed and the rest either undecided or refusing to answer. The result compares to 43 percent opposition in some national polls and 56 percent opposition in other Southern states.

On the other hand, 57 percent said they oppose “a law forbidding any instruction or discussion of homosexuality in eighth grade and lower classes in Tennessee public schools,” a premise of a so-called “don’t say gay” bill pending in the Legislature. Only 31 percent support such a law, 8 percent are undecided and the rest declined to answer, MTSU said.